MEMORANDUM������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ November
12, 2000
TO:���� ����������� Board
of Regents
FROM:���������� Joyce A. Scott, Deputy Commissioner for
Academic & Student Affairs
SUBJECT:����� Level I Announcements & Approvals
This
memo is to inform you of the Level I changes in academic programs approved in
the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education since the last meeting of
the Board of Regents.� I will be happy
to answer questions about these changes.
Western Montana College of the University of
Montana
Request to offer the Associate of Applied Science in
Early Childhood Education in Hamilton, Montana effective Spring 2001.
WMC-UM currently offers an
AAS in ECE and a Child Development Associate (CDA) training program on the
Dillon campus and at seven (7) field sites (Missoula, Billings, Bozeman Helena,
Butte, Great Falls and Havre). The off-campus program consists of 24 semester
credits. These courses can be used to satisfy the training requirements for a
CDA. Typically, they also form the professional core for the AAS degree in ECE.
There is a growing demand to
professionalize the early childhood field. This has resulted in Federal
training mandates, a Montana Early Care and Education Career Path, and grants
to practitioners being tied to early childhood training. This focus, along with
increasing demands for early childhood programs, is creating a need for higher
education courses. WMC-UM began offering early childhood extension courses in
Hamilton in 1995 and typically� has
offered one course per year to 15 Head Start and child care providers. Due to
recent federal regulation--that 50% of Head Start teachers must have an
associate degree in Early Childhood by 2003--Head Start wants to formalize this
process.
The practitioners are
non-traditional, place-bound providers who currently work in a field
characterized by low wages. A high percentage of current students qualify for
PELL grants, and there are scholarships for those who do not. Courses will be
offered at night and/or weekends to meet students' needs, with labs conducted
in the early childhood setting when feasible.
A
full program proposal is on file in the Office of the Commissioner.